Demonic D Tribe
by AnniBananni
Summary: The D in their names is more than a letter. In this AU, it stands for Demon. Ace lives, Lami lives, Cora-san lives. Was originally Lami-centric, but kind of branched when I tried writing it. The D means demons and each member can cloak or hide their demonic natures, but it's always there, guiding them. Rated T for mild swearing
1. Lami and Law

**Basically, Ds are demons who can cloak themselves to be normal people. Animals and people with strong instincts can kind of tell unless the D really trains to be completely ****unnoticeable****.**

Lami was the one who pulled Law to hide under the bodies of their friends. She didn't even look concerned about the body fluids. Law would admit only to himself that he was scared of her in that moment. Her unhinged, feral grin and unhidden features scared him almost as much as the white patches and the marines shooting his friends in the street.

Lami was the one who pulled him to join the Donquixote pirates. "We're going to die anyway," She said with almost a chirp and Law was _afraid_, "Why don't we take out as much as we can."

"Okay," He agreed, because he really did want to destroy the government, but also because he couldn't say no to his little sister, even if she was scary instead of sweet now.

Lami convinced the pirates to let them join, and Law stabbed Corazon. Who didn't rat him out for breaking the blood law.

The other children pestered Law, so he told them about his name, and Corazon kidnapped him.

Lami, upon seeing her brother getting kidnapped, climbed up the side of one of the buildings and dropped onto Corazon in a kicking motion. It hurt her more than him, but it got him to startle.

Less than twenty four hours later, Corazon kidnapped Lami and Law from the Donquixote pirates and set off to find them a hospital that could and would treat them. Both tried to explain to him that it was futile.

"Hey Law," Lami said while they were supposed to be sleeping, "What if he does find a cure? What do you want to do?"

Law turned toward her, "I wanted to be a doctor."

"Do you still want that?" Lami asked, her features shifting between humanoid and demonic.

"... I don't know," Law said, "I still want to finish my studies."

"I can't imagine feeling safe trapped on land anymore," Lami admitted quietly, her fangs digging into her lower lip. Law pulled her close and gently pried her lip out of her mouth.

"Then we'll sail," Law said, "and we'll be free from the government's control."

"Yeah," Lami said, "that sounds good."

If Corazon heard any of their conversation, he didn't show it. He kept taking them to hospitals and then getting turned away and then he'd leave them somewhere and come back covered in ash and smelling of smoke that was certainly not cigarette smoke.

The sicker the children got, the less they could control their appearance, and eventually, it was impossible to appear human at all, so Cora-san couldn't take them to hospitals anymore.

Cora-san called them adorable and ran his fingers through their hair. He also told them his idea for a cure since, at the sight of either child, most doctors would either run in fear or get weapons out.

Lami, in her semi-delirious state, had nudged Cora-san's hand with her head and started purring when he absentmindedly stroked her hair while explaining. "Nii-san should eat the fruit," Lami said, "I'm not good at doctor-y things."

"That's not a word," Law chimed in immediately.

"See?" Lami said, "He's smart."

"Right," Cora-san said, "He's going to be a doctor, right?"

"A pirate," Law said quietly.

"Pirate captain doctor, sir," Lami said and giggled.

Cora-san got Law the devil fruit, and Lami chirped at him.

"I don't speak chirps, Lami," Cora-san said.

"Run," Lami said, "Danger."

Law didn't even stop to think before dragging Lami to her feet and trying to do the same for Cora-san. "Which direction?" Law asked.

"What?" Cora-san asked.

Lami pointed away from shore. "Go that way. Caves," she said and trailed off in a long hiss-like sound.

"Lami did this before, right before the marines came to Flevance," Law said, "Now get up, let's go."

Cora-san got up and picked up both children before bolting in the direction Lami pointed out. Miraculously, he didn't trip. Lami made weird clicking noises that Law found mildly terrifying, but they were going to live through this.

They didn't actually find caves on minion, but they did find a way off of the island that they took and ended up on Swallow, where they did find caves. Law and Lami were both exhausted and fell asleep the moment they were someplace warm enough to not die immediately.

Cora-san put his feathered coat over the two of them and tried to go out to get food. Lami grabbed his wrist in her sleep, though, "Stay?"

"I'll stay," He said, and sat on the side Law wasn't on.

It took less than a week for Law to figure out his first technique and use it to remove some of the poison from Lami and himself. Cora-san was impressed. It was hard to learn to use such a complicated fruit.

Lami, upon being fully healed, shifted from her demonic form to her human form and laughed. Her laugh used to be childish, but now it sounded other. Law privately thought it was an excellent laugh for his first mate. He knew his laugh would probably sound mildly evil now too.

"It's weird to not be in pain," Lami whispered to Law when Cora-san was out of earshot, "Thank you, Nii-san."

Law smiled at her, and Cora-san came back with water for both of them. They drank it greedily.

Lami started blending into shadows when Cora-san and Law weren't watching. When they looked at her, half-merged with the shadows, she would grin with too many teeth and step out of the shadows while shifting back to human. Law wanted to see what somebody who wasn't insane would think upon seeing it. Cora-san tended to grin like an idiot.

Law stopped hiding his features fully. His teeth always stayed just a bit too sharp and his eyes a bit too bright. Lami, on the other hand, started hiding her demonic features to such a precise degree that, if Law didn't know any better, he'd say she was a perfectly ordinary human. Even Penguin and Shachi, who were crew and not properly Ds seemed less human than her. Cora-san called it Uncanny Valley when he visited.

He also praised her and taught her to be a spy, so Law was even more scared of her than ever.

"My instincts don't even warn me anymore," Bepo said when she walked in, "They warned me about both of you when we met."

"Really?" Lami asked, "How long ago did they stop?"

"Uh," Bepo said, "Maybe a week? I'm sorry for not being more precise."

"I just appreciate knowing at all," Lami said, "I'll have to test this further… That is if you're okay with it."

"You're kind of scarier when you aren't scary," Bepo said.

"Should I stop?" Lami asked, "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"No," Bepo declined, "It's probably a good skill."

Lami had taken Cora-san's spy training to heart and enjoyed breaking into marine bases to steal information and destroy documents. She also started compiling evidence of illegal dealings from various marine bases. More bases were corrupt than not. Lami started leaving copies of parts of her evidence in the uncorrupt bases.

Law started taking patients and ever so casually breaking the law to do so. He stole medicine from marine bases, beat up thugs and marines alike, and kicked asshole doctors into hospital beds, all the while teaching his crew how to play nurse and or doctor whenever they were needed.

Bepo became the navigator and also the best besides Law at treating broken bones. Shachi became the mechanic for their sub and became the best besides Law at stitches. Penguin became the chef and the best besides Law at treating diseases. Lami became the spy and assassin, so she learned how to treat poisons as well as make and use them.

Bepo was the best of all of them at being Law's nurse. Lami said it was because he was telepathic, which he denied.

"Hey, Law, at some point today, will you call for Bepo without actually calling for him?" Lami asked while they were picking herbs and the rest of the crew was in town.

"You mean with gestures or with my mind?" Law asked sceptically.

"With your mind," Lami said, "He doesn't think he's telepathic."

"Is he telepathic?" Law asked.

"Only one way to find out," Lami said.

Law indulged his little sister two hours later when he realized he forgot to make sure they got operation room 2 restocked before they left the island. Bepo appeared in the doorway fifteen seconds later, "Yes, captain?"

"Holy shit," Law said, "Lami was _right._"

"What?" Bepo asked.

"It slipped my mind during the marine ambush, but is operation room 2 fully stocked?" Law asked.

"Penguin and Shachi worked together to restock based on your notes of stock," Bepo reported, "I'm not sure whether or not they were able to fully restock."

"Thank you."

"What was Lami right about?" Bepo asked.

"Oh, that you're telepathic," Law said, "I didn't actually say a word to call you over."

Bepo stared at him blankly.

"Penguin owes me five thousand Beli," Lami sang from the doorway, her demonic form barely cloaked at all.

"But I'm not telepathic?" Bepo argued.

**(Author's Note) Sorry, Bepo, I make the rules here. You're telepathic.**

**Ds each have a minor power that will not really be explained.**

**I didn't really want to change Law's backstory too much, but obviously since Lami is alive, things are different.**


	2. Sabo in the Revolution

Sabo thought it was funny that most of his squad were terrified of pissing him off, but he didn't really think he was that scary when he was angry. He thought Ace was far scarier, but as soon as that thought entered his mind, it was gone. He didn't know any 'Ace'.

"Did you know your eyes glow when you're angry?" Koala asked once.

"Ha," Sabo had replied without thinking about it, "you're mistaking me for…" and the thought was gone.

"What?" Koala asked, when it became clear he wasn't going to finish the sentence.

"I don't know," Sabo replied, and Koala didn't bring it up again.

It wasn't really normal, Sabo thought while chewing through a sixth large steak, to be so carnivorous. He had only had one helping of vegetables. Koala was making money on it, though, Sabo noted without moving the food away from his face.

"How can you even keep track of your hands and ours?" Koala asked him when he was stealing food off of Hack's plate with one hand, biting into a chunk of meat large enough to block his entire face, and yelling at the newbie for making a bet he couldn't win.

"If you can't keep track, there won't be any food left," Sabo said, mouth full of food, "we don't even know how he does it."

"Who's 'we' and who's 'he'?" Koala asked.

"Oh," Sabo said brightly, but once again lost track of who he was talking about, "I don't remember."

"I thought you were raised as a noble," Koala said, "How is it possible for you to be this unrefined?"

"Maybe that's why I left," Sabo joked, "I was too unrefined for those pricks."

"I almost believe that," Koala said.

"That's not a human bitemark," the doctor said, looking over the newbie, "I thought you said Sabo was the one who bit you?"

"It was!" The newbie cried, "he was stealing my food, and I tried to get it back!"

"I'm sorry," Sabo said, then blinked, "What do you mean not a human bitemark?"

"There are way too many teeth," the doctor said, "You have the normal 28."

Sabo inspected the bitemark, "Wow, how long were the canine teeth?"

"I don't know!" the newbie sobbed.

"Me neither," Sabo said, "But I do know I don't have twenty sets of teeth. What the hell got you?"

"You do though," Koala said, sliding into the infirmary without permission.

The doctor squinted at her like she was a strange creature.

"I don't?" Sabo tried.

"Only when you're eating," Koala said, "You really didn't notice?"

"Koala," Sabo said, "I'm a normal guy. I haven't eaten a devil fruit or anything, and I think I would have known sooner if I were some kind of demon."

"You still don't believe me, but I've seen the bitemarks you leave in your food."

There was a newspaper advertising the upcoming execution of Portgas D Ace, and Sabo didn't wait to talk himself down and said, "Koala, I don't remember, but I'm going to stop this." His blood boiled, and he didn't know why. He couldn't remember. He had to keep them safe… They aren't safe!

"Sabo," Koala tried to act as his common sense, pretending she had any herself.

"Every fiber of my being is screaming," Sabo said, his eyes unknown to himself glowing and his mouth filling with teeth he shouldn't have, "save him."

"How?" Koala asked, "We can't bring the revolution to war, yet."

"Then I'll go on my own," Sabo said, and Koala involuntarily flinched away from the fury in his glowing eyes.

"I'm coming with you," Koala said, "but we need a plan."

Sabo calmed slightly and they started planning. Koala ditched anything overly covert when Sabo started smouldering like the embers in a fire.

"You're going to burn your clothing," Koala told him and he stared at him like she was talking nonsense. Then he smelled smoke and freaked out.

**Ace is going to live. I'm just straight up not letting him die.**

**Their interactions are basically like-**

**Sabo: I'm a normal person**

**Koala: no**

**Sabo: is something burning?**

**Koala: bruh**


	3. Ace and Luffy: Sabo's origin

Ace thought Luffy was annoying. He thought he was weak, annoying, and wouldn't understand pain or loneliness. He was wrong on that last point for sure.

"Being alone is worse than being hurt!" Luffy said, and his demonic features came out without his permission.

"Holy _shit_," Sabo said, and glanced at Ace.

Ace acted like he didn't even notice. Sabo found out that he really hadn't when Ace's head suddenly snapped to Luffy during bathtime. "Wait, do it again!"

"Do what again?" Luffy asked drowsily, his tail out and waving.

"This," Ace said and turned into a demon.

"Oh," Luffy said and his own human features changed, but not to the same extent as Ace's, "Can Sabo do it, too?"

"No," Sabo said, "I thought only Ace could."

"Gramps can, too," Luffy said, and Ace squinted at him. Apparently, he didn't know that.

"Shitty geezer didn't tell me that," Ace said, "Only told me to learn how to control it."

"Oh, that's why you can't hide your eyes," Luffy said brightly. Sabo didn't realize his eyes weren't hidden. They didn't look any different to human eyes except when he was angry.

"I can hide my eyes just fine!" Ace said.

"Nuh-uh!" Luffy said, and his own eyes faded, "Yours look like this!"

"And what should they look like?" Ace demanded. Luffy forced his eyes to look 'normal'. Sabo could only see a slight difference, but apparently, Ace saw the difference clearly.

Luffy went back to his human form except his tail.

"Why do you leave your tail showing?" Sabo asked, changing the subject.

"It's comfier," Luffy said, "But gramps and Makino said I shouldn't show it to anybody."

"Balance," Ace clarified, "When we hide our tails, we have to lean backwards to stay up."

"Oh, that makes sense," Sabo said.

When the three exchanced brotherly vows, Sabo didn't realize it, but his eyes picked up the same low-level light that Ace's had before Luffy taught him to hide it. He didn't know, but he started smiling with too many teeth when he was enraged. The people of the grey terminal called him Demon and the people of high town would come to call him fae. A changeling child.

Sabo, years later, would be told by Koala that his eyes glowed and he had too many teeth. Sabo would deny this, but smile to be compared to people he couldn't remember.

"Sabo?" The stranger from high town said, and Luffy even without knowing who he was would bare his grin of too many teeth.

"Who was that?" Ace asked.

"He must be mistaking me for somebody else," Sabo denied knowing him, his eyes glowing electric blue with fear, pain, and rage. Luffy changed to his demonic form.

Luffy grinned with fangs bared and glowing eyes and Sabo was a bit afraid of him, but even more afraid of Ace's fury directed at him for secrets untold. Later, he would realize Ace wasn't furious at him, but worried without an outlet, so he blamed Sabo's secrets.

"That was my birth father," Sabo admitted, "I was born a noble."

Luffy and Ace expressed equal disinterest in this revelation. "Oh, was that all?"

**Uhhhhhhhh**


	4. Luffy's Crew, Ace, and the Pirate King

"What are you, the son of the devil?" Zoro asked, and Luffy flashed his too sharp grin and laughed. Zoro joined his crew.

They went to Orange town, and Luffy met Nami and wanted her. She joined his crew. Buggy heard his name and made a comment about demons. Luffy laughed and his eyes glowed with fury when Buggy acted cowardly.

Kuro attacked his own crew and Luffy didn't hesitate to smack him to the ground with glowing eyes and too sharp teeth. "They're your nakama, aren't they!?" Kuro laughed and called them trash, so Luffy smashed his claws and his plans and threw him like the trash he was. Usopp joined then.

Luffy, as hungry as he felt in a restaurant but not supposed to eat, struggled to keep his teeth human, his eyes normal, and his tail in. When he saw Sanji feed the starving stranger, his tail started twitching and he felt the old guy stare at him contemplatively. He didn't care, and Sanji joined his crew. "Take care of him," Zeff said quietly, "I know how possessive you can be."

Nami ran away and the shark guy dared claim she was a tool to be used. He didn't even try to keep human when he destroyed the stupid building. "Nami! You are nakama!" Nami nodded with tears streaming down her face, even as Luffy emerged with flared wings and glowing eyes.

The whale swallowed his crew, so Luffy released his wings and punched the creature. He found a hatch soon after and pulled in his demon features to explore. An old guy told his crew the story of the whale, and Luffy tested its strength and made his own promise to the whale.

The blue haired girl that attacked the whale was a princess, and she pleaded with him to save her country. He agreed on the terms that he would get a feast. Vivi joined his crew.

Nami got sick and Sanji got buried in the snow, so Luffy took them up to the doctor and pleaded with her to save them first. She did and Nami would be fine. The talking reindeer didn't want to join because he, the reindeer, was a monster. Luffy was confused by that because everyone on his crew was a monster. He proved it and when the reindeer, Chopper, kept making excuses he yelled, "Shut up! Let's go!" Chopper joined the crew, and he was apparently a doctor.

Vivi's country was saved, but she had to stay behind. Luffy beat up Crocodile and got Vivi's dad and Ms. All-sunday, Robin, out. Robin decided that meant he owed her, so she joined the crew. Luffy didn't quite understand, but he liked her so it was okay. Then, Robin decided that dying was the best way to protect them, so Luffy burnt down the place they took her to. "I want to live!" She declared, allowing Luffy to give Sogeking the order to burn the flag and start the war.

Merry couldn't take them any further, though, so Luffy gave her a proper burial. Franky built them a new ship and Luffy loved Sunny right away. He was strong and beautiful. Franky refused to join until Luffy stole his pants and Robin did the unspeakable. Franky was irreplaceable and he really did want to be on the crew, so Luffy let her get away with it. Franky could complain to him if he wanted, and he would do something then. Ussop also rejoined with an apology on his lips.

Brook leaned away from Luffy for just a moment, but it was long enough for Chopper to know he wasn't the only one who thought Luffy was weird. Usopp would always just whisper that he was glad Luffy was on his side. Brook still joined eagerly after they got everybody's shadows back.

Luffy read about Ace's upcoming execution and lost his grip on his cloak. A demon was on Amazon Lily ready to tear apart the world to retrieve his brother. Hancock agreed to help him get into Impel Down to rescue Ace.

Jimbei met Luffy in Impel Down and his instincts warned him the same way they had with Ace and he wasn't really that surprised to see a demonic tail and glowing eyes and sharp teeth in the small human. Luffy freed him and they went to Marineford to destroy the marines and retrieve Ace.

Ace couldn't believe so many people came to rescue him. A demon who was the son of the devil. Most of them didn't know, and that was the only reason, Ace decided.

A ship fell from the sky. Luffy was too trusting, Ace decided. Ace wasn't important, Ace decided. Good thing it wasn't Ace's choice, Ace realized when Luffy punched gramps without pause and freed him from his cuffs. Good thing it wasn't Ace's choice, Ace realized as he burst into flames in the shape of whitebeard's mark and came out of the flames on demon wings and with a snarl of rage against the marines.

Luffy had come to save Ace, so Ace would live. That was what Ace decided in the end. He would live unless it meant Luffy would die.

The magma fist went in Luffy's direction instead of Ace's, so he jumped in front of it and was shocked when he felt himself leave the ground instead of facing impalement.

"Idiot," a familiar unfamiliar voice said with exasperation, "Luffy would die without you."

"Who-?" Ace asked and looked at the person who had picked him and Luffy up, "You're not him."

"Ouch," The person, blond with a top hat, teased, "I'm hurt Ace."

"He's dead," Ace said, "Who are you?"

The person licked their lips and Ace caught a glimpse of too many, too sharp teeth, "I really shouldn't say who I am, I'm not supposed to be here."

"Sabo," a girlish voice said, "Stop bantering with them and please tell me you remembered something."

"Damn it, Koala," not-Sabo, he couldn't be Sabo, whined, "I don't remember anything, I just knew Ace would die if I didn't do anything."

"You're forgiven for abandoning the plan," Koala, apparently, said, "Strawhat ruined it first anyway."

"He's good at that," not-Sabo and Ace said at the same time.

"You can't be Sabo," Ace said, "He's dead."

"You knew me before then?" not-Sabo asked lightly, and Ace hated him a bit for it.

"No," Ace snarled, "I knew Sabo, my brother. He got killed though."

"I got shot twice," not-Sabo said, "cannonballs from a Tenryubito. I fell into the ocean and Dragon-san saved me. I didn't remember anything."

"Stop it," Ace said, "Stop it, you can't do this. Sabo is dead."

"Ace," Sabo, no he can't be, said, "I'm sorry. I don't remember."

"Bring Strawhat here!" A voice called and Sabo did just that. Trafalgar Law was a doctor before a pirate afterall.

It was a long time before Luffy woke up, his system was apparently over-loaded with hormones. Sabo made a mental note to talk to Ivankov about that. Trafalgar Law reminded Sabo of something he couldn't recall, and he wanted to ask. He didn't know how. Trafalgar Lami, on the other hand, looked almost too plain to be a blood sibling of Law.

"Oh," Lami said to him with a grin, "You noticed, huh?"

"I don't even know what I noticed," Sabo admitted.

"That's because you don't remember," Lami told him, "you died, right?"

"I didn't actually die," Sabo said.

"No," Lami agreed, "You sacrificed yourself." Her stare had a similar weight to Luffy's, even if Sabo couldn't remember that yet.

"I don't remember that," Sabo told her.

"You weren't born into the bloodline," Lami said, "You're an anomaly. Ask the ones that changed you out of love."

"What?" Sabo asked.

"Lami, stop picking people apart, and help me put Strawhat back together," Law said from the doorway.

"You're no fun," she pouted and clapped Koala on the shoulder on the way out.

"What did I just witness?" Koala asked.

"I don't know," Sabo said, "But apparently, I need to talk to Ace."

"Obviously," Koala said, "Or you wouldn't have felt compelled to rescue him despite not knowing him."

"Please stop calling me and my amnesia out, Koala," Sabo pouted.

Luffy didn't wake up until the three were on Amazon Lily, and when he got there, he rampaged for several minutes before tackling Sabo into a hug and sobbing. Ace got dragged into the hug as well.

"Who was I?" Sabo asked when Luffy calmed down enough to set his brothers free, "Before?"

"Sabo was Sabo," Luffy said, a weight to his gaze. Sabo stared at him.

"A fucking idiot," Ace said, and didn't elaborate.

"Smarter than you," Sabo snarks without thinking.

"You went with your shitty not-dad," Ace said, "and you left us behind."

"I'm sorry," Sabo said, "I'm positive I had a reason, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was."

"You were trying to protect us," Luffy said, "but you're an idiot."

"Ouch," Sabo said.

"You said you'd go with your shitty not-dad if he wouldn't hurt us," Ace said, "And you didn't come back. You set out and got yourself blown up."

"I wish I could remember," Sabo said.

"I know!" Luffy said and shot off onto the isle of women like he belonged.

He came back a few minutes later with three red sakazuki cups and a bottle of sake.

"Did you know…" he started, setting the cups down and uncorking the bottle.

"That when men share sake, they become brothers?" the three finished at the exact same time, while Luffy poured the sake and they shared sake for the first time in ten years.

"To live freely and write my adventures," Sabo said, setting down his cup.

"To make my name known outside of my father's shadow," Ace continued.

"To become the pirate king!" Luffy shouted and they laughed.

"You haven't changed at all, huh?" Sabo said and passed out.

Ace barely caught him. "I think he remembers now," Ace said.

Trafalgar Lami made an interesting chirping noise as she ran up, "Is he okay?"

"He just passed out," Ace said.

"My brother and our crew were about to leave, but we can look him over first if you need?"

"We'll be fine," Ace said with his usual possessiveness.

"Thanks," Luffy said as she rolled her eyes and turned to him.

"Is that how you shared with him," Lami asked, gesturing at the sake.

"It's a promise," Luffy said, "You can't break a promise."

"That's so cool," Lami said, "You should teach him to control it, though. It'll probably become more prominent the more you renew your promise."

Luffy grinned at her and she walked away. Ace blinked at the two of them curiously.

"What was that?"

"Sabo's scales are going to grow in, soon," Luffy said.

"Sabo is a normal person, Lu," Ace said, "Normal people don't grow scales."

Luffy laughed brightly, "Sabo is going to be upset that you think he's normal."

"You know what I meant," Ace argued.

Luffy turned a heavy look at Ace and was then distracted by a man coming out of the water.

The first mate to the first pirate king offered to train Luffy, and Luffy accepted. Ace glared at him as he looked at Ace with sadness.

"I'm glad you're alive," he said eventually.

"I don't care," Ace said, "You only care because of my shitty not-dad."

"You're not entirely wrong," Rayleigh said, "But you sure as hell aren't right."

Ace sneered at him.

"I also care because of your mom, your brother, and because you're just a kid," Rayleigh told him.

"You knew my mom?" Ace asked.

"She travelled with us until just after we passed through fishman island the first time."

"What was she like?" Ace asked softly.

"She was beautiful," Rayleigh said, "First thing anybody noticed about her."

Ace knew that.

"She was deadly," he continued, "a menace with throwing knives, and eventually corrupted Buggy."

"Big nose knew Ace's mom?" Luffy asked and Rayleigh burst into laughter.

"He learned knives from her. Rogue convinced the brat to use Roger as target practice when she was angry," Rayleigh laughed, "That's how he unlocked observation haki, in fact."

"Why did she leave?" Ace asked.

"A pirate ship is no place to raise a baby," Rayleigh said, "Even if somebody didn't catch the memo." Ace isn't sure what the story behind that is.

"What did…" Ace hesitated on his birth father's name, "Roger think about my mom?"

"He was jealous of her wings; 'more beautiful than even the sea' he called them," Rayleigh began, "He loved her for her smile, her laugh, her gentle nature, her fury, her strength…"

Luffy smiled at Rayleigh, who looked like he was in physical pain, "You loved them, too, and they loved you."

"That's right," Rayleigh said and grinned. Ace noted that his canines were too sharp for a normal human.

"What did you promise?" Luffy asked.

"That, if I could," Rayleigh took a deep breath and then altered his sentence, "That I would protect their kid."

"Why weren't you at Marineford, then?" Ace demanded harshly.

"I'm sorry," He said, and didn't answer. Ace didn't ask again.

"Why did you lie?" Luffy asked after it was just him and Rayleigh.

"What did I lie about?" He asked.

"When you said 'their kid'," Luffy explained, "I don't know why, but it was a lie."

"Well," Rayleigh said, "He _is _their kid."

Luffy squinted at him, "Why are you lying?"

"I didn't," Ray said, "That time."

"Why'd you lie the first time, though?" Luffy asked.

"I think Ace would have tried to burn off my beard," Ray said, "And I quite like my beard."

"Why would he try to burn your beard?"

"Because I'm a shitty parent," Ray said, "because the truth was that I promised to protect our kid."

"Oh," Luffy said, "You're right, you are a shitty parent."

"Ouch," Ray said with humor.

"You should talk to him," Luffy said, "When he isn't so angry."

"I trusted the whitebeards," Ray said, "and I worried about you instead of my kid. I don't think I have a right to talk to him."

"No," Luffy said, "But Ace likes me better than himself anyway. If you hurt him again, I'll kick your ass, though."

Rayleigh laughed, "I deserve that, so let's get to teaching you so you can kick my ass."

**Brook can sense ghosts and demons, and after the timeskip will be able to see them as well as Luffy's cloaked form. Chopper is literally an animal, so he can tell, too.**

**This is more an overview, so there will probably be chapters later for each member of the crew. Don't count on it, though.**

**Also, please review. I love checking my email and seeing somebody took the time to review.**


End file.
